Kidney Failure

My cat Rusty is in the late stages of Kidney Failure. He is 17 and as sweet as can be. I am giving him SQ fluids daily and now he is weak and not eating. I am haveing a terrible time trying to decide to put him to sleep but do not want to take him to the vet to do that. Is this a painful way for him to die? Or will he just die in his sleep. I am planning to face this in a few days and take him to the vet. He is sleeping most of the time and is very weak but can still get to the litter box. I am force feeding him ad and his tuna.

I am so sorry. I know it must be a difficult time and decision. I'm not sure how painful kidney failure is, but maybe you could find a vet who will make a house call when it's time?

I'm so sorry you're having to face this tough decision. It's never easy no matter how old or sick your cat is. I know it's ideal to just them him pass peacefully in his sleep, but if he's in pain or suffering it would be the right call to take him to the vet. The injection wouldn't hurt more than the daily suffering, but only you can see that.
Its worth asking to see if your vet would make a house call. I know someone who did that for their dog. The vet didn't usually do that, but did for him as he was a long time client.

Here's my advice - for what it's worth. I went through the same thing a few years back.  Kidney failure is not painful - they just slip away from you.  We gave Pixel fluids everyday and I fed him from my fingers when he would take it. I wanted him to go at home where he felt safe and loved. The last day, I laid on the bed with him and held him all day.  He was very weak - couldn't stand by himself but I think he was calmed by having me stay with him.  We stayed that way all day until I was afraid maybe I was prolonging things selfishly.  We bundled him up and went to our local animal ER which is also where his kidney specialist is during the day.  They put us in a room for the vet to come and put him to sleep. It so happened that one of his specialists nurses was there that night and she came in with us. As it was, I never had to actually make the decision because he passed while we were waiting for the vet. I am really glad that I kept him with me at home until the end and let him go on his own.  I think you will have to monitor if you think there is any pain.  The other thing I would do if I ever have to make this decision is to have a vet come to my home if at all possible.

My Sven died from kidney failure one year ago this month, and while the kidneys themselves don't cause them pain (as far as we know), there can be other pain involved, such as oral ulcers, stomach ulcers, headaches caused from the dehydration, etc.  Even though we began giving Sven more frequent sub-q fluids, and he was on Pepcid A/C AND Ranitudine for nausea,  he really started fighting me to get his meds in and that's when I knew he had pretty much given up.  I point blank asked him if he was ready to go, and he told me he was .  And even though I have tears in my eyes as I type this, I also am happy with the decision to set him free from his weakened body.  We took him to our long time Vet, and even she cried, but told us it was definitely the right thing to do.  She barely touched his leg with "the needle" and he was gone , purring the entire time, however, knowing he was almost free

I'm sorry Rusty is going thru this, and hope that if you decide to keep him at home, that he DOES go peacefully in his sleep